Something Fishy is Going On
by If You Give A Duck Chocolate
Summary: On a rather dark and stormy night, a ship starts sinking. A girl, Annabeth Chase, on board survives thanks to Percy Jackson...who happens to be a mermaid. Watch as they fall in love on some island in the middle of the ocean. [Am I too late for the mermaid craze?]


It had been a calm day at sea. The wind was at their backs and the waves were minimal. But Princess Annabeth knew it wouldn't last long. The sea was turning an omnivorous grey and the sky began to darken with clouds. The calm before the storm, she thought. It didn't seem like it would be anything so harsh, but it had her worried. Her mother expected her to port back home in Athens in a day or so. The coastline was in sight, but it wasn't close enough.

She glanced at the captain. His stoic face remained impassive as he surveyed the cold ocean. "Captain," she inquired. "Will we make it home in time?"

He looked back at her, his dark brown eyes hard. "I don't know, milady. The storm could hit us anytime."

She nodded as she scanned the shoreline. "Perhaps we can dock at one of the smaller and uninhabited islands? At least for the time being," she added hurriedly.

The captain shook his head gravely. "There is no way we can port at one of the smaller islands when the storm is blowing. We need an actual port. There's nothing but natural rock and sand here."

Annabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes, which was considered to be unladylike. "Of course, Captain."

She then turned her grey eyes towards the open sea. She could practically hear the voices calling out for her from the distant city —her city. Her mother and father were waiting for her to come back from her trip around the islands. Annabeth could only hope they wouldn't be killed within a day's reach of Athens. She would not, could not fail.

Hours later, Annabeth was still surveying the looming outline of Athens from the top deck. The ship has slowly halted to a stop before the crew had gotten out their oars to row. The wind had not died down, instead, blowing in all directions. The weather could only get worse from there. The clouds, after all, had gathered into a mess of grey and looked like they were going to break from their weight soon. She couldn't believe that only this morning was the sky a shade of perfect blue.

Minutes later, the rain started to pour. The icy bullets that fell from the sky seem to plunge into Annabeth's skin, soaking her. Her tunic she had adopted for the voyage did not help to protect her from the rain.

"Princess!" she heard the Captain yell. "Princess, get below the decks."

"I cannot. If the ship capsizes, it is best if stay above deck if I want to have a better chance of survival," she told him logically.

"If you survive the ship's sinking, but die of sickness, your mother will go down to Hades itself and bring me back to kill me, slowly," he replied grimly. The Captain wouldn't put it past Athena to do something like that. After all, the wise Queen of Athens could do just about anything.

"I'll be fine," she insisted stubbornly.

The captain let out a small growl. "Have it your way. The Princess stays above deck," he called out to the crew.

"Aye, sir" his first mate returned.

The captain nodded as lightning flashed ominously behind his back, illuminating his figure. Annabeth studied his tall frame carefully to see if the captain showed any sort of extreme emotion at all. She pouted slightly when she found she could not detect a hint of fear from the man.

The crew ran frantically around the ship, hauling down the sails beneath the pouring rain. Profanities rang across the ship like the bell of a clock tower, loud and clear despite the crash of the thunder and the roaring of the waves. Sheets of water fell upon them as the rain continued its onslaught, the ship creaking in pain as the load upon its back grew heavier.

"We need to bail her out," someone shouted.

Another answered, "We haven't the time nor the people."

Annabeth stood up. Now it was her time to show that she wasn't the useless princess people expected her to be. "I'll do it."

The sailors who had heard her exclamation gaped openly at her. A princess do work? That was almost a mutiny. They had never heard of such a thing. The captain, however, shrugged and gave Annabeth a bucket to begin bailing out. He recognized that this was his chance to save his ship. And what more does a captain love, but his ship?

Annabeth began bailing out water as fast as she could, but the rain battered against her, drumming an eerie rhythm against her heard. It pounded and invaded her thoughts, but she kept on pushing after her muscles began to seize up and refused to work. It felt like an eternity to her, bucket after buck of water. But the rain continued to replenish whatever water she managed to shove out of the boat and add even more.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other sailors began to grab buckets of their own and tried to bail out the ship. Even with their help, the water was like a wrathful spirit who would not lose. The rain came down even harder until it was a continuous curtain of water that drenched them from the sky. They all began to lose faith. It was their time, wasn't it? Hades was calling them into his domain. There was nothing they could do about it.

"Come on, keep on going," Annabeth mustered. Those who could hear her repeated the chant. They continued their monotonous work, bucket after bucket of water. They worked as a team, faster and faster as the rain began to halt. They were saved. And the crew certainly knew it.

As the rain lessened, the wind grew stronger, blowing them towards Athens. With a large cry, the crew, seemingly forgetting that Annabeth was a respected princess, lifted the girl up onto their shoulders, proclaiming her as their savior. She laughed and cheered along with them as a large gust of wind blew against the ship, knocking things into the air. The waves crashed heavily against the port side of the ship, causing the crew to stumble. The stumbled passed as a wave through the ocean would and Annabeth toppled into the water.

~O~

Annabeth struggled in the water, waves crashing above her head. Her sore arms could barely support her weight as she struggled to keep afloat. She could hear the roar of the upset crew who ran frantically around trying to find a way to help their drowning princess. Annabeth struggled against the waves to stay afloat, but her head began to be sink down. She was slowly being sucked into the water as if someone was pulling her under.

She flapped her arms as her wet clothes began to drag her under the water. She tried to gasp for breath, but the water invaded her lungs. She could barely see anything in the black waters of the stormy ocean, the lightning the only source of light in the cold night. She heard roars in her ear, but she could not tell whether it was from the waves, the thunder, or perhaps the crew. Slowly she was pulled down. So this was how it is like to die, she thought. Death couldn't be that bad. It was like going to sleep, only easier. The water would become her new and eternal bed. The only thing she would regret is that she would never see her mother and father again.

That awoke Annabeth from her slowly awakening slumber. She struggled some more, but a large wave submerged her. Only then did she realize how cold the water was. How had she not noticed? How could she have possibly thought that it was a warm bed? No. This was an icy grave.

She paddled against the waves, towards the ship, which had drifted off to the side. She desperately clawed at the side, but the crew had give up on her for dead. They hadn't been able to see anything for minutes, and had thought the worst.

A large wave swallowed her, crashing her head into the side of the ship. A tear rolled down her eye before she lost consciousness. She had failed them all. She, the Princess of Athens, Annabeth had failed. And darkness over took her.

~O~

He was swimming peacefully under the water when he heard the splash. Percy blinked. What could have made that splash, he wondered as he swam towards the surface. He knew there was a storm on the surface so he had sneaked away from his father's palace to find peace in the storm. After all, e had nothing to fear from water.

He flicked his tail and broke the surface of the water and breathed in fresh air. He liked the taste of air even if he had no need for it. It was calming. He looked around to try to find the source of the splash. Nothing, as far as he could tell. He spotted a ship in the distance, but no one would be stupid enough to take a swim in this weather, right? Then again they were humans.

As he swam closer to the ship he could hear splashing coming from somewhere. He swished lazily in the water until he found her. Despite her hair being dulled from the bright blonde it normally was, it was still a beacon to Percy. He could easily see it in this weather, as his eyes were adapted to see things that were even darker than they were now. He knew she could not see him. She's doing fine, he thought. There's nothing to worry about. Just a human swimming.

He loved to see them try to swim, with their legs. They were kind of interesting, those legs. He sometimes wished he could walk. Of course, he had heard the horror stories about how any type of fish were killed up on the land. Even if they were merpeople. He shuddered. They were only bedtime stories. Only.

Percy heard her struggling and coughing above. He peered carefully at her, her damps clothes sticking towards her body. She was pretty, he thought. For a human. He swam closer to her, avoiding her kicking legs. If only she had a gorgeous tail like his. He peered at his sea green tail. He looked at her legs. How interesting, he thought. Percy just might have tugged at them a little, just to see how different they were from the tails he knew and loved. They're smooth, he thought.

She continued to struggle, but Percy hardly noticed. He was too interested in her human legs. They're so different he thought. He wanted to have a pair of legs one day. Maybe he could sneak one from a human. Wait, no. How would that work? He facepalmed himself. They're connected to the bodies, dummy.

Soon, he got tired of watching the human girl swim. He circled around her a few times to memorize the look of her legs before beginning to swim off. He had swam a good fifty meters before turning back. He wanted to know her name.

"What's your name," he tried to ask. She didn't hear him apparently because she continued to "swim". He gave her annoyed look.

"Hey, what's your name?" he tried again. Nothing. He was seriously getting pissed off right now. Honestly, _humans_.

"I said, what's your name?" he tugged at her feet. Instead of getting a reply, he got a strangled scream as the girl hit her head on the ship that the girl had slowly crawled closer to. He panicked. He didn't know if pulling her had done it. Perhaps it was a wave, he rationally thought. No it had probably been him. He swam frantically in a circle before noticing that the girl had sunk down a bit.

He swam after her, tugging at her. He might have slapper her a few times, but it was obvious that she wasn't responding. Huffing, he pulled her on his back as he swam her towards a close island. She sure isn't light, he thought as he began pushing himself towards the island.

~O~

The first thing she registered when she woke up was the beautiful sea green eyes. Then she realized she wasn't dead. Annabeth jolted up quickly and banged her head on the boy's.

"What was that for?" he exclaimed, clutching his forehead like he was dying.

"Where am I?" she wondered, glancing around. They were on a beach, and, she noticed, the boy wasn't wearing a top. She quickly looked up, a blush began creeping onto her face. She wasn't going to look down just in case he was even more indecent than she thought he was.

He glared at her, still holding his forehead. "You're on an island, in Greece?"

"That much is obvious," she spat back, annoyed at his attitude. Who did he think he was?

He sighed. "We're on island off of Athens," he reluctantly told her

"Oh good, you can take me home," she told him. "I live in Athens."

His eyes brightened. "Do you?"

She nodded. He beamed at her. "What's your name?"

"Annabeth." She told him as he held out his hand, introducing himself as "Percy."

"Where are you from, Percy?" she asked.

"Erm, if you hadn't really noticed," he began awkwardly. What did he mean? Annabeth had no idea what this boy was talking about.

"No, what?"

"I'm from the ocean."

She stared at him before laughing, clutching the sides of her stomach for support. She couldn't help herself. He was ridiculous, this boy. Oh, she liked him a lot. He wasn't afraid to talk to her like another guy just because she was a girl.

"And I'm from the sky," she retorted.

Percy looked at her confusedly. First she laughed when he told her the truth and now she told him that she's both from Athens and the sky? Of course, she was probably being sarcastic, he realized. Perhaps she thought he was joking.

"I'm not joking," he insisted. "Look." He pulled his tail towards her.

"Oh my gods you've really thought this through, didn't you? That's seriously one big fish tail, where'd you get it?"

He slapped his head in frustration. "Look at it. It's connected to me. This isn't a joke, _Annabeth_.."

He heard her gasp of surprise as she looked at it. "It's real," she said, grey eyes opened wide. Beautiful grey eyes…

Percy nodded. I already told you, I'm from the sea. Poseidon's son, at your service."

Annabeth numbly nodded. Perhaps she _was _dead and this was all a delusion. There was no way possible. This couldn't be happening. Not to her, at any rate. She was supposed to go home, marry some prince, and have a nice life.

"Well, I guess we can get acquainted now," she suggested. He nodded and gestured her to begin. She sighed. This was going to be a while.

~O~

Soon they became best of friends. Or at least as close to best friends as a princess who's been surrounded by people who were either servants or regarded her only as the princess and a fish-prince who hated most of his species could get. She laughed at his joke and he at hers. No one in both of their societies had ever done something like that with them before. They spent the evening on the beach together, Annabeth having woken up in the afternoon. Soon the stars came out and they lay there, human by merman staring at the stars they both saw. Percy pointed out the constellations he knew and Annabeth did the same with hers. They did this for most of the night before falling asleep next to each other.

They did this for a few days, getting closer and closer together. Percy brought them up seafood for them to eat, mainly shellfish and crustaceans he could find close to the island. Annabeth brought water (for herself) and edible plants she found from the land. They spent their time bidding on the beach, being themselves the way that their societies never allowed them to. On the beach they had no more responsibilities. No more worries. No more people who didn't understand them. They only had each other. And that was enough for them.

He didn't know when it began for him, when he started liking her. Perhaps when he first saw her, her legs being so new and alien to him, her blonde hair and tanned face being an exotic sight to see even for him. Or maybe it was after they bonded on the island, when they became best friends. Maybe it was then. Percy didn't know, and maybe he didn't care all that much. He knew that he couldn't live without her. She was the only one who understood him.

She didn't know when it started for her either. Maybe it was when she woke up on the beach and saw the beautiful sea green eyes she grew to love so much. He was different, much different than her, but completely the same. He understood her much more than anyone else in her entire life could, and he wasn't even the same species as her. The outrageous thought made her laugh a little. Annabeth knew she couldn't live without him. She couldn't just go back to the way it was before she knew him. A life without a real friend in the world. It was so lonely, now that she thought about it. And now, she couldn't picture a future without him. Her parents would understand, wouldn't they?

And so, a week after he had rescued her, she came up to him and asked if he could take her home. As soon as she asked that, his eyes seemed to die a little before looking away. She touched his face as he lay on the sand next to her. She cupped it and leaned into him, pressing her lips softly against his, before pulling away. And then he understood and agreed to take her home.

~O~

And so, the next morning, Percy took Annabeth upon his back as he swam across the sea to get to Athens and to Annabeth's home.

"You're sure about this, Annabeth?" he asked. She nodded yes. He sighed. He wished they could stay upon their island forever. But he knew it couldn't last. If, perhaps, only he were human or she mermaid it would have been so much easier for both of them. But alas, he was a merman and she a human and they have to make the best of it.

When they arrived at Athens, Annabeth told him to stay in the port to wait for her. She promised she would come back, with her parents. And so he waited. He waited and waited until the darkness came. He never knew what hit him. His last thoughts were of Annabeth, and if, perhaps, he knew what was going to happen, he would have liked it to have been that way.

~O~

Annabeth hiked her way up to her parents' castle. She cursed it for being so high up. If only it was closer to the sea and to Percy. As she came towards the gates, a soldier recognized her and called out to the kind and queen, who rushed towards their daughter. They embraced.

"Annabeth, you're alive," they had exclaimed. She had smiled, tears in her eyes.

"Yes, I am home," she whispered, hugging them closer. She then broke off the hug and stepped back.

"Mother, Father," Annabeth began. "I have something to tell you."

"What is it, dear?" her father questioned.

"I-I-I have a friend, well more than a friend," she stumbled. "But he's a merman."

Her parents' eyes widened.

"But it's okay," she continued. "He's a wonderful person, and I think I'm in love with him."

Her parents had seemed a bit put off, but they sent her to her room to change and get cleaned. Her father told her not to worry and that he would take care of it.

"Just get ready for the feast," he said. "I'll get him there. We'll have him for dinner. Here in the hall, and you'll be there with him. It's my treat for you to come home safe."

Annabeth had nodded and changed and cleaned up. She happily sprung down the stairs to the banquet hall. To her dismay, Percy wasn't here yet.

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth asked.

Her father told her that he should be here soon and told her not to worry. But the food had come and he still wasn't here.

"Where is he, Father? You promised he would be here," she said worriedly.

"That I did," her father mumbled.

And with that, the servants uncapped the food. Annabeth screamed. No, it couldn't be. No. For on the plate in front of her was a whole fish tail. A sea green fish tail that was much too large for a normal fish.

~O~

She didn't come out of her room for days and refused to eat. Annabeth was mad at her father, who had tried to console her. Perhaps the soldiers mistook the "We'll have him for dinner" as a literal meaning. Or perhaps— but she hadn't let him finished. She ran off and shut herself in her room, not letting anyone in except to have water. She didn't want to eat. Her eyes began to sink into her face. She knew she would not love again. He was supposed to be hers, she knew it. And she, his. But it wouldn't happen. No. Because of her father's orders.

She screamed into her pillow and walked around. She couldn't get over it. Annabeth could almost hear his voice and smell the smell of the ocean within her room. She was going crazy. At one point she thought she could see him, but she was only mistaken. It had only been one of her dresses.

Annabeth had tore through her closet and grabbed every piece of clothing she owned that was sea green and ripped them to shreds, the color made her remember _him_. And it brought back the memory of her discovery.

She cried for days and couldn't help but weep for her misfortune. She had finally had somebody, but it had all disappeared within a few moments. She didn't know why, why her. All she knew now that she could never live happy without him.

She paced her room, looking for something. She couldn't sit still. The smell of the ocean somehow managed to come wafting through her window. The salty ocean air made her long him, but he couldn't come to her no matter what. But she could come to him.

And so, Annabeth decided to come out for the last time. She opened the door and like a ghost flitted outside and down the hillside. She finally reached the ocean. The white nightdress she wore floated around her and her pale, thin face made her look like a ghost. She knew this was how it was all going to end. She could hear the people crying out for her, but the tears streaming down her face made her make the decision. She knew she was going to do it. And so, Annabeth step off the pier and into the depths of the ocean to find him. And the last thing she thought of was him. And perhaps, if it had all ended another way, she would have been glad the last thought of hers would have been of him.

~O~

And, perhaps, the moral of the story is not to die for love's sake. Perhaps it is the cruelty of fate and the hatred of the different. The misunderstanding of people. It is fate, of course that drew these two together and broke them apart until death.

_A/N: I'm sorry I'm not sorry. This was simply too amusing to write. A bit late for the mermaid craze though, sorry D:_


End file.
